Hub seals weeping - replace plastic caps with bolt on, after market steel caps?

Hey folks, I cleaned my rear axle breather and its hubs stopped weeping. My mechanic says the hub seals must be blown for it to have been weeping out of the axle in the first place and they should be changed out. However, it seems fixing the breather fixed the weeping. Time will tell. Any thoughts?

Then I met a fella who'd attached some bolt on after market steel caps in place of the plastic caps. He says it prevents moisture from creeping into the axles, diluting the oil and allowing the gears to wear prematurely. Is this legit/necessary?

depending on age of your truck its likely hub inner seals are grease seals and not oil seals oil shouldnt enter wheel bearings , a blocked breather will push oil out , if you mean the heavy duty drive members they arent fitted because of that a good plastic hub cap should seal ,its the mud and water getting in through inner hub seal id worry about ,non of a landies oil or grease seals are water or mud proof

Thanks for the prompt response, James! The vehicle is a late 1989 LR110 Hi capacity. I read your response as: the blocked breather pushed oil through the seals without necessarily damaging them. Is this correct? If so, and I still get weeping oil from the cap area (none as yet after only 10 miles) should I look to checking the seal(s)? As for those steel hub caps, seems if there was oil leaking into the bearing, past the seal and out the cap, the bearing would be compromised and I would not know. Is that fair? I assume the plastic caps were designed with this in mind?

originally landies ran with oil in the hubs and so an oil seal was used on the inner side of hub(oil seals have a garter spring on the oil side grease seals dont)later they used grease so oil was kept from bearing by an outer seal an outer seal was used as this let oil reach the drive member but not the bearings(so oil seal was eventually replaced by a grease seal which wont hold the oil )oil could leak out of the hub cap if poor or breather was blocked ,the oil lubricated the drive member splines,if axle is full of oil and youve unblocked the breather and inner hub seal is no longer leaking it would suggest things are ok,though if you do whats in your avatar check wheel bearings after, as said its likely mud /water will contaminate them

If you warm new caps in hot water they push on lovely.
Flossie's tip of the day.

Thanks James & Flossie. I'll keep an eye out for leaks and replace the ripped caps. Still not sure which set up they put on my (1989 110) truck. So if you have any idea, it would be handy to know... for when I eventually need the info!

Edmund Butler said:

Thanks James & Flossie. I'll keep an eye out for leaks and replace the ripped caps. Still not sure which set up they put on my (1989 110) truck. So if you have any idea, it would be handy to know... for when I eventually need the info!

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presumably drum brakes,yours should have an outer seal as well as the inner which means oil should reach the splines and cap,but not leak out of inner seal ie rear of hub

Forgive, but doesn't the oil come from the axle/differential ("reservoir"), stop at the inner seal so as not to contaminate the grease and bearings on the other side of it and the outer seal prevents that grease from travelling along the splines and onto the road?

Edmund Butler said:

Forgive, but doesn't the oil come from the axle/differential ("reservoir"), stop at the inner seal so as not to contaminate the grease and bearings on the other side of it and the outer seal prevents that grease from travelling along the splines and onto the road?

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yes ,though earlier bearings were axle oil lubricated, then outer seal the seal in stub axle with the 300 tdis on and they suffer from drive member spline wear due to no lubrication

I have series metal caps on my 90,they are just better.

tottot said:

I have series metal caps on my 90,they are just better.

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always wondered if they'd fit